


A Porcelain Lady Sows Wolf's Teeth

by the17thmuse



Series: Hatake Agricultural Adventures [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Cabbage patch babies, Character Death, F/M, Itty Bitty Senju Flowerpot, Mentions Of Assassination Attempt(s), Mentions of Past Miscarriage(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-20 04:57:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20669696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the17thmuse/pseuds/the17thmuse
Summary: the Tale of Tobirama's Mother





	A Porcelain Lady Sows Wolf's Teeth

Shiso Hatake, now Lady Senju, had never been the same after five near-consecutive pregnancies and miscarriages, and one nearly successful assassination attempt right after the only stillbirth.

Certain individuals in the Senju branch families had not wanted a vassal's daughter to marry above her station, especially into the main family itself. But she had succeeded in mending some of the cracks in Butsuma's heart, and the opposition had become desperate. The poisoning attempts in particular have been getting very blatant.

There wasn't anything she could do about that though, having little to no political power, and the Head Healer, Tema ("call me Ojisan") Senju, could not be seen playing favorites.

Tema-ojisan apparently begged to differ, as Shiso was surprised to find a flowerpot in her room one day. 

It was a little bigger than a grown man's head, around the size of an urn. It was small for a Senju pot, which they tend to make big, and covered with meticulously hand-painted flowers and leaves in the style the head healer preferred to paint. 

Tema most probably meant to cheer her up by having a plant of her choice to care for. It was either that, or Anija had put him under oath of secrecy or death and told him the Tale of Shiroki-obaasan. It was...very sweet of him.

She found she could spend the entire day just admiring the craftsmanship, but that would not be a wise use for it. 

(It would be doubly wise not to leave it in plain sight. A few _someones_ may just break it on purpose.)

Shiso had become so emaciated she found it hard to leave her bed most days, but she refused to let her weakness stop her from carrying such a thoughtful gift back in her isolated room.

Butsuma, in his own way, fretted at her over the next few days after she overexerted herself, but she had been in such high spirits he had to forgive the enthusiasm. And she knew exactly how to show her appreciation towards her husband, and decided to do so....very thoroughly.

A few weeks later, Shiso finally planted one of her baby wolfish teeth in the flowerpot, and nurtured her sixth (and hopefully not last) child in secret.

Paranoia kept her stressed and even more ill for weeks, to the point it wasn't difficult to fake another difficult pregnancy. Her husband became overprotective the following months, and sometimes, it felt like seeing the increasingly curdled faces of jealous and bewildered ladies (as their schemes to rid of her unborn child failed and kept on failing) was the only thing anchoring her to sanity.

In the end, all her efforts were worth it.

Her precious Tobirama, red-eyed and half-blind due to lack of sun, was thought to be of delicate state by her visitors, and they believe he will not live long. 

But she had seen his stubborn baby-plant cling to life and thrive, to be able to bloom and bring forth fruit even in less than stellar conditions.

He's a survivor, nothing at all like her stepsons Hashirama, Itama or Kawarama, but he will grow up beautiful and strong nonetheless.

She is sure of it.

Not long after, it was found that one of the many poisoning attempts during her 'pregnancy' with Tobirama had left her barren, and Butsuma was again forced to take another wife.

(She never complained, and the others thought her cowed and defeated. What they didn't know was that the gods have long made a mockery of their founder's life, and genetic sass and an admittedly strange parenting style had beaten the bitterness out of their line. The gods can go float in their temples and sputter all they want, and their enemies can go choke on their egos and delusions of superiority too.)

Shiso lived long enough to impart to her son the most important secrets of their clan, of the Tale of Shiroki and the Children-from-the-Teeth, but she did live not long enough to see him become a man, or to see him outlive Kawarama, Itama, and eventually, even Hashirama.

She never saw him raise children not his own, make friends with old enemies, create indescribable wonders and legacies that lasted several lifetimes, or continue his (half-)brother's dream of peace.

(And she never lived long enough to see her son die alone, the way all Hatake do, in the end.)

**Author's Note:**

> (Written: 8/16/19)
> 
> ** Warnings: ** mentions of assassination attempts, past miscarriages and stillbirth, mentions of present and future deaths 
> 
> **Roster:**  
Shiso (basil) [紫蘇] - Kabocha Hatake's dark-haired daughter and Tobrama's mother  
Tema (effort) [手間] - the Senju Head Healer who monitored Tobirama's birth, possibly Butsuma's uncle or father  
Shiroki (white sake presented as an offering to the gods) [白酒] - supposedly the first Hatake, a very pretty samurai-turned-farmer with more missing teeth than scars
> 
> ** Sources: **  
_Tobirama is a Hatake_  
\- Pack Unbound by Kalira (https://archiveofourown.org/works/19799575)  
\- The White Demon series by syusuke (https://archiveofourown.org/series/1393315)  
\- Sing Me to Sleep by KeanBlade (https://archiveofourown.org/works/20006932/chapters/47371156)


End file.
